The Abuse of Women Runners: Perceptions, Fears and Experiences

Report from the Small Grant to investigate the scale, nature, and responses to the abuse of women runners in Manchester and Merseyside. 

Report

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Summary

This report provides an overview of the findings of an N8 PRP funded project conducted by Dr Caroline Miles (PI) and Professor Rose Broad (Co-I), University of Manchester, in partnership with Greater Manchester and Merseyside Police forces. The project aimed to increase knowledge and understanding of the abuse experienced by women who run, whether they report this to the police, the barriers to reporting, women’s safety concerns around running, and the measures employed by women to increase their feelings of safety when running. Three sources of data were analysed: police data covering a two-year period across two forces; survey data from 498 women runners; and audio diaries from 10 women runners. The project links directly to an objective of the Police Violence Against Women and Girls National Framework 2021, to improve trust in policing and create safer spaces and understand reasons preventing women from reporting abuse. It also links with the Government-led Safer Streets initiative, which includes a focus on VAWG in public spaces.

Key findings

There were 81 offences recorded by Greater Manchester and Merseyside Police 01/01/2022 – 31/12/2022 involving the abuse of women runners. The majority involved sexual offences, followed by Public Order Section 4a offences, and physical assaults.

68% of the 498 women survey respondents said they had experiences of being abused whilst out running, but only 5% of these women had reported the abuse to the police.  Reasons included the normalisation of abuse, not perceiving incidents as criminal offences, and low confidence in the willingness/ability of the police to take the report seriously.

82% women said they have safety concerns around running and take a multitude of measures to increase their feelings of safety, including risk assessing when and where they run, who they run with, what they wear, and carrying items such as phones, keys, personal alarms, and tracking devices to increase feelings of safety.

Report date: March 2024.

The research was conducted by Dr Caroline Miles (PI) and Professor Rose Broad (Co-I), University of Manchester, in partnership with Greater Manchester and Merseyside Police forces. For more information, please contact Dr Caroline Miles, Caroline.Miles@manchester.ac.uk.